Culled once again from the "Morning Becomes Eclectic" program, these collections have turned out to be interesting not for the weighty names they bear, but for the subtle unveiling of the performers that they pull off.
From the sly/funky/ghostly lead cut by Cibo Matto ("Sugar Water") to the Air Supply/Leonard Cohen style Lloyd Cole gem towards the end ("Famous Blue Raincoat"), the KCRW people hold together this largely acoustic collection while it crosses forth and back over many a genre.
While you don't necessarily instantly envision someone like white funk- noire poet MC 900 Ft. Jesus fitting in here, his groovy interlude ("The City Sleeps") nestles in comfortably here, turntable scratches and all. There are more obvious appearances: Joni Mitchell's angelic Camel stoked voice rings over her huge acoustic six string sound on "Just Like This Train," Aimee Mann's delicate, cafe-style vocal on "I've Had It" that reminds us how silly we probably were to spotlight Edie Brickell instead all those years ago, and crabby alterna-crooner Vic Chestnutt showing that for all his annoying down to earthiness, there's something actually flavourful to a track like "Everybody Can Change."
While Phillip Glass' "Opening" pulls his typical "shows promise, goes nowhere" and the Cranberries "Sunday" grates ever so slightly, they may be the sole exceptions to an otherwise seamless string of well wrought performances.
